First of all.. I wish you al a Happy Newyear :D:D I hope everyone gets a year of joy, peace, love and of course health ;).

I finished Deathly Hallows btw, which I got the 5th of December (Dutch Holiday.. where we get presents.. anyway).. in like 24 hours. Was very proud of myself.. it was worth the wait.. I'm telling you.. I LOVED it. But okay.. let's get on with the story, shall we.. ;)?

Now, first I think I need to apologize for not updating so much.. but I can explain. Or, at least, try. It seems my other chapter only got 3 reviews.. that's just too sad :P.. But I've wasn't only depressed.. I was busy too.. I've been working fulltime and having a training on Saturdays, so I don't really have a lot of time.. But, I managed to write some at Christmas Break, so.. here it goes.. hope you all still love it.. :):D

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“Mary-Ann, are you ready?” Professor Dumbledore asked, while walking into the Anymoire Library. Mary, who was busy making notes from a charms book didn’t even look up. Professor Dumbledore walked towards the table, and sat down next to her.

“I know it’s hard, Mary-Ann” he suddenly said, his voice full of compassion, “but ignoring everything won’t get them back, you’ll only regret it later”.

Mary didn’t respond and reached for a new piece of parchment. Then the door opened again, revealing Sirius and Lily, who looked very sad. Lily gave a small smile towards Dumbledore, when they walked towards the table as well,

“Professor, people are asking for you” Sirius said and Dumbledore nodded.

“I’ll leave you three to it then” he announced before standing up.

Lily and Sirius watched Dumbledore close the door behind him and then focussed their attention back at Mary.

“Moire, the ceremony starts in a few minutes” Sirius said, while sitting next to her.

Mary looked up and shook her head, “I’m not going” she announced simply.

Lily sat down on the other side and put her arm around her best friend, “You have to, Mary” she whispered.

Mary took her book from the desk and returned to her studies.

“Moire” Sirius tried again, while Lily grabbed the piece of parchment right out of Mary’s hand.

Mary looked up and shook her head again, “I can’t” she whispered, her voice sounding very sad.

Sirius put his hand on her upper leg and squeezed it gently, “I know it’s hard, but do it for them”.

Mary looked in his eyes and wanted to shake her head again, when Sirius softly stroke her cheek with his other hand, “I know they are watching you, make them proud once more”.

Before Mary could answer, the door opened again and Carrotine, who had painted her outfit black for the occasion, entered, “Miss Anymoire, everyone is waiting for you”.

Lily and Sirius looked at Mary for a second, unsure of what she was going to do, when she simply stood up and smiled, “Then let’s not let them wait any more” she simply said, before walking into the living room, filled with friends of her parents.

The funeral was attended by almost everyone that meant something in the magical community. Mr. and Mrs. Anymoire where known for their bravery and everyone wanted to pay them their last respect. Due to the important guests, there also was a lot of security. Mary was seated in the front row, right next to the minister of Magic and Professor Dumbledore. Sirius offered to sit next to her, but Mary had stated that wouldn’t be necessary. So he sat at the fourth row, next to Lily, James, Mr. and Mrs. Potter and of course Remus and Peter. For the occasion, all Hogwarts students could attend the funeral if they wanted, getting authorization by one of the Head’s. Who were here too.

“I feel so bad for Mary-Ann” James’s mother stated, while wiping a tear out of her eye, “I can’t believe Randolph and Mary-Jean are really gone”.
James’s father put his arm around his wife, comforting her, while in the frond, the ceremony had began.

Lily sat a little closer to James, who put his arm around her too, while Sirius kept his eye on Mary.

So they sat, till the end of the ceremony. When everyone stood up again, Sirius turned to Remus. “She didn’t cry” he stated simply.

Remus looked at him with one eyebrow raised, “who?”.

“Mary” Sirius answered, “she didn’t shed one tear!”.

Remus pulled up his shoulders, “maybe she wanted to stay strong for the guests, for her parents”.

Sirius nodded, but didn’t look very convinced. He followed everybody, who walked over to Mary-Ann.

“I’m so sorry for your loss” James’s mother announced, while she pulled Mary close.
Mary smiled thankfully, when the rest of them soon gave her their condoles.

Soon the funeral was over and life got on. Soon everybody was back at studying for their NEWT’s. Except Mary, who spend a lot of time in the library. At first, Sirius and Lily didn’t really think much of it, but after a few weeks they noticed she was still not talking much to them. She got up early and went to bed late. Every time Sirius wanted to spend some time with her, she always said she needed to study.

One morning, they were having breakfast, when Professor Dumbledore got to them. “Good morning” he said, with a smile on his face.

“Good morning” the marauders said back at the same time, while Lily just smiled.

“Is there something wrong?” Lily asked, when she saw the look in Dumbledore’s eyes.

“I was actually looking for Miss Anymoire” Dumbledore explained, “do you know where she might be?”.

Lily and the Marauders shook her head, “She didn’t show up for class?” Lily asked.

Dumbledore nodded, “she hasn’t been for a few days now and I’m getting worried”.

Lily and Sirius looked at each other, both with a concerned look in their eyes, “Have you tried the library?” James suggested.

“Shall we check the map?” Remus suggested, when he saw the worried looks.

Sirius simply nodded, when Lily looked up, “what map?” she asked.

“Well, we made a..” Sirius started his explanation, when James kicked him under the table.

“We can’t” he stated, “it’s a Marauder secret”.

“So?” Sirius said, rubbing his sore leg.

“we have to talk to Peter first” Remus decided.

Lily looked from the one Marauder to the other and pulled up her shoulders, “I’m going to check our dorm” she decided for herself, before getting up.

“we could check the map now” Sirius suggested, but James shook his head, “Just wait until we can tell Lily”.

At dinner, Mary sat next to them, acting like nothing happened. “How was class?” Lily asked, while taking a bite.

“It was great” Mary answered with a smile, “I’m so fortunate to have Professor Dumbledore as my teacher”.

Sirius looked up and Mary gave him another smile, “I was thinking, shall we do something nice this weekend?”.

Sirius nodded, when James hit him, “it’s a quidditch weekend” he explained.

Mary smiled, “I know, but we could like take a walk afterwards?”

Sirius nodded again. Mary smiled again, gave him a peck and stood up, “I’m going to the library” she explained, before walking out of the Great Hall.

Sirius immediately at Lily, “why did she lie?” he wondered.

“And why does she smile so much?” James asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Let’s look at the map if she is really going to the library” Sirius suggested. The Marauders, Peter didn’t really want Lily to know about the map, but knew he didn’t have a choice, stood up. Lily, on the other hand, shook her head. “I’ll be there soon” she explained, “I’m going to talk to Dumbledore first”.

A half hour later, the Marauders and Lily were bowing above the map. Lily was very impressed at the abilities of the Marauders.

“I found her!” Sirius stated, while pointing at a point of the map.

They already found out that Mary wasn’t in the library. First, they were thinking she might be at the Room of Requirements, but now Sirius had found her.

“The forbidden forest!” James said, his eyes wide, “why the hell is she there?”

“The goody-good is breaking the rules” Peter stated.
Remus gave him a warning look, when suddenly Mary disappeared of the map.

“Where did she go?” Sirius asked.

“We could go to Dumbledore” Remus suggested.

Peter shook his head, “How would you explain everything, we can’t tell him about the map”.

James nodded, when Sirius looked up, “You know, there are only a few who know the way in the forbidden forest”.

James looked at his best friend, “are you suggesting?”.

Sirius nodded, “we could go and take a look”.

An hour later, Lily sat at the Oak tree. Right under the heart Mary caved into the tree last year. She was waiting for the boys to return. In her hand, she had the map. James had given it to her, after Peter had tried to stop him, so she could look out for them. If there would appear a teacher, or even the care taker, she would warn them by using the two-way mirror James had given her.

Suddenly, she saw Mary appear on the map again, at the same place she disappeared an hour ago. She saw the Marauders were on the other side of the forest. Quickly she got out the mirror and told James where they could find Mary. But before they could reach her, Lily saw Mary walking out of the forest. She was limping a little, like she had been hurt. But besides that, she had a big smile plastered on her face, that Lily saw when she looked around. She wanted to run after her friend, but decided to wait until the Marauders were back.

“Did you see her?” Sirius asked when Lily walked up to them.

Lily nodded, “she just came out of the forest”

“Do you have any idea were she might have gone off to?” Remus asked Sirius and Lily, who both shook their heads.

“Let’s keep an eye on her for now” Sirius suggested, “we could always go to Dumbledore.”.

The other Marauders and Lily nodded approvingly and walked back into the castle.

The following week, Lily and the Marauders kept a close eye on Mary-Ann. They noticed she left Hogwarts more than once. On the time she was at Hogwarts, she didn’t attend any classes. She only went to the library to study. Or so she told. Sirius didn’t really believe she studied on her Upper-NEWT’s. So, that Friday, when he saw her leaving, he decided to follow her. He didn’t tell the other Marauders, since he knew they wouldn’t approve. He borrowed James’s invisibility cloak and saw Mary walking into the forest. Suddenly she stopped walking and apparated away. Sirius, who didn’t even knew it was possible, walked to the spot she stood a few seconds ago and tried to apparate after her. Since he didn’t knew a destination, it took some time to apparate. Suddenly, he heard voices. Lily and James appeared behind some trees. Since Sirius still wore the cloak, they hadn’t noticed him.

“You think he followed her?” Lily asked.

James shook his head in respond, “I think he is still somewhere”.

Sirius almost wanted to reveal himself, when suddenly, Mary apparated again. His eyes grow wide, when he saw the state she was in.

“Mary” Lily screamed, kneeling down by her friend, who had fallen down after she appeared.

Sirius threw the cloak of him and ran over to Mary.

“What happened?” Lily asked, while she wiped some blood, that was coming out of Mary’s eyebrow, of her face.

“It was a trap” Mary whispered, before she passed out…

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I just hoped it was worth the wait.. And I also hope you take a little time to make me very very happy and inspire me to write more by saying something in the box below ;).. Even if you hate it, if you have any comments.. review.. please (A)..